Next year, the first star of the BBC's Muffin the Mule celebrates his 60th anniversary. To mark the occasion, a new £2m series has been created, which sees Muffin return in September. Viv Hardwick talks to writer Diane Redmond about bringing a legend back to life.

SO, will audiences be singing: "We love Muffin, Muffin the Mule," when the little hero returns in animated form in September to celebrate 60 years of BBC Children's Television?

Diane Redmond certainly thinks so. The woman who has spent the past 20 years creating entertainment for two to four-year-olds, including penning Bob The Builder's first adventure, is the co-writer of Muffin the £2m Mule for 2005 with Jimmy Hibbert.

She says: "I think that Muffin's appeal goes across the board when you are creating children's TV. Great-granny will want to sit down with the tiny tots to watch. For example, this morning Alan Titchmarsh was on the telly talking about Gordon The Garden Gnome which I've also written for. When you're writing for children aged between two and four it's not on a whim, you're getting a brief and all the scripts go through a BBC executive producer, so this is a team effort. You know what is suitable for this age group, but another kind of joke might be too advanced or too babyish or you miss your target audience. It's an organic unit and not just a scriptwriter going off on one."

Redmond produced the first scripts back in 2003 and the project involving the string-operated puppet, who has gone down in history as the BBC's first star performer, has been quietly gathering momentum for autumn 2005.

She's already written four Muffin books, which will go on sale just prior to broadcast. All the books are based on scripts created by Redmond and Jimmy Hibbert, who also contributes several character voices.

Muffin's return from the toy cupboard of time began when Maverick Entertainment bought the rights from Sally McNally and negotiated a deal with the BBC.

Sadly, Mrs McNally recently died of cancer and Redmond says: "It's terrible that she will never see the new-look Muffin on television."

Also missing from the animated adventures will be a human presenter like his original co-star Annette Mills.

Redmond says: "But the project is in the can and sitting waiting. The animation by a company called Blue Tooth is fabulous.

"I've worked for Maverick before on projects like Snailsbury Tales, which went out two or three years ago, so they just got in touch with Jimmy and me again. I've been in the business for 20 years so you do build up a reputation and contacts as well."

Muffin's voice is supplied by Blackpool-born actor David Holt.

Each Muffin episode lasts ten minutes and 26 have been made so far, with updated storylines like a keep fit campaign and the launch of Muffin the Mule's United - although it's a certainty that Kieron Dyer and Lee Bowyer didn't lend a hand with tips on sportsmanship.

So what is Muffin's world like?

"It's the kind of world you'd want to go into and is safe, warm and happy," says Redmond. "At first, I have to say, I thought if they do it as puppets, it's going to be really clunky because children's animation is really, really brilliant. You can do anything and bring out any mood, pace or speed and then, when I discovered it was going to be animated and not like puppets, it was charming, absolutely, utterly beautiful and based exactly on the original characters."

Muffin - "the sweetest little mule who will do anything for anybody" - now lives in a caravan near an unnamed village by the sea and shares adventures with pals like Louise The Lamb (" a bit of a div"), Grace the "terribly elegant" Giraffe, Maurice and Doris the busy and cute Mice, Monty the "really naughty" Monkey and Peter the Pup.

The writer says: "Now Peter's fabulous to write for because he keeps getting things wrong. Muffin's like everyone's friend and a guru who can always solve the problem with his thinking cap."

Redmond then quickly adds the name of Oswald the dim-witted Ostrich who is bossed about by tiny Willie the Worm.

Asked about constantly operating in a world of under-fives, the Cambridge-based writer explains: "My family is so used to this and I've been writing scripts for so long that my youngest daughter says 'well who's going to narrate it?' and 'will you be away a lot?' She'll look over my shoulder and say 'you're not really going to put that?' when I write something like 'I miss my little Willie' and she'll say 'mother, really!' and I'll change it to 'I'll miss Willie the worm'."

"When you're writing for these characters, whether it's Gordon or Muffin, there is a kind of innocence there. I will tell my daughter sometimes that the scripts are for little children and not meant for 15-year-olds who understand a double entendre."

On the fate of anyone trying to resurrect a TV legend, Redmond jokes: "Hopefully there will be another series because this project has legs. I wouldn't be bothered about a Muffin backlash. You're pitching at a new generation and the stories are fundamentally sweet and each one has a little message that says 'look after your friends, you love your friends'. It's a very gentle message."

Mother-of-three Redmond has a daughter who lives in Vancouver, Canada. She reveals: "My daughter has told me that Bob the Builder is now huge in Canada and emailed me 'your books are everywhere'."